Big Brother 25 is quickly turning out to be the most chaotic season of Big Brother ever. Onscreen, we’ve got wild twists and multiverses, factions forming and collapsing, and houseguests getting the boot for dropping n-bombs. But the silver anniversary season is also under attack from forces that are totally beyond its control. First, the ongoing writer’s strike pushed the start date back from the usual late June/early July to mid-August. This means that the extra long season will inevitably crash into Survivor‘s 45th season which is slated to start in September. The overlap of these two reality staples will play havoc with the Big Brother 25 schedule.Â
So if you’re wondering why isn’t Big Brother 25 on tonight or why it’s coming on late, we’ve got all the answers below.
But even as reality junkies pull double duty, there’ll be changes in episode lengths, air dates, and even start times. Consequently, superfans without a Paramount+ subscription or free Pluto TV (and possibly a VPN if you live outside the United States) will be inconvenienced at the very least. Evidently, angry fans let CBS know that they didn’t appreciate having to wait until 9 PM for Sunday, August 13’s Episode 5 to start. A full hour delay. When the PGA golf tournament ran long, it pushed 60 Minutes into Big Brother’s usual 8 PM timeslot. And with the NFL season starting on September 7, sports will pre-empt and supersede the long-running show again. Let’s try to summarize the full scope of scheduling changes and why Big Brother 25 may be delayed some nights.
Big Brother 25 Schedule: What’s Staying The Same?
Big Brother 25 CBS TV schedule explained (Instagram).
If you tune in on the usual schedule on CBS (or Global in Canada) of Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, you will get some Big Brother action. We’re also used to the first episode running long, at 90 minutes, as we have to introduce the houseguests. And, for the next few weeks, the timeslots will be the same as in previous seasons. Sunday and Wednesday’s episodes will start at 8 PM EST, with Thursdays beginning at 9 PMvEST. Of course, the competitions for status, like HOH and POV, happen days before the episodes air. Important conversations often get recorded and leaked early, due to the live stream cameras throughout the house, and you’ll need to follow the live feed on Pluto or Paramount+ to catch it in real time.
However, the Big Brother 25 schedule will change once NFL football games start airing starting Sept. 7, 2023. Then, Big Brother 25 will air on Sundays at 10 PM EST, or whenever the football games end. Wednesdays and Thursday will air at 8 PM EST, although Thursday episodes could be delayed due to football, too.
Thursdays are live elimination days, which means at least one person will be gone each week on that day. Kirsten Elwin was the first formal Thursday elimination for the season. Luke Valentine was also kicked off for breaking the code of conduct, but that just happened to happen on Thursday. Also some delays, like the one from this past Sunday, won’t be noticed on the West Coast due to time differences.
Big Brother 25 Schedule: What’s Changing Due To Survivor Scheduling Conflict?
As we all know, the first week of Big Brother for this season skipped their Thursday episode, and episode 2 was a Sunday episode. The extra-long season means there will be 42 episodes in total. When the fall season starts, though, watch out! There will be some time and day changes starting October 3rd when the new season of Survivor kicks off. According to this Paramount Express link, Wednesday will become Survivor night and the three Big Brother days will be Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Tuesday and Thursday showings will start at 8 PM EST, but Sunday episodes will start at 10 PM EST, not 9PM.
Apparently the Wednesday, Sept 13th episode will be a special 2-hour episode, and the Sunday, Sept. 17th episode will be even later at 10:30 PM EST. This is because CBS’s Yellowstone will be running long until 10:30, after which Big Brother will run until 11:30. And, in keeping with the usual length of the finale, it’ll be 2 hours as well during the week of Nov. 5th It’ll be interesting to see if these many schedule changes affect the ratings. Could we see more incursions between the Survivor and Big Brother universes? The finale will air 100 days after the cast members first entered the BB house, the longest season in the show’s history.
